


A Flower Speaks A Thousand Words

by Caskettmyheart



Category: Carmilla (Web Series), Carmilla - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, French, High School, Paris (City), Paris AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-15
Updated: 2015-11-15
Packaged: 2018-05-01 19:00:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5217116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caskettmyheart/pseuds/Caskettmyheart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carmilla Karnstein has been living in Paris for the past few years, hiding from her Maman and her past. In all those years of exploring the city, she has found a few spots to read and people watch, or laugh at tourists. Laura is one of those tourists that catches her eye. They meet at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. Neither can stop thinking about the other when they part ways. Carmilla decides she's done hiding out in Paris and something has to change.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Camillia Japonica

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this while sitting in the very same spot where Carmilla sat. I stayed in a hotel just 5 minutes from the Stade De France, where the first two attacks on November 13th took place.
> 
> To all those who lost loved ones in the attacks, stay strong. There's not much more I can say but we're here for you. We stand with you. 
> 
> You can find the accompanying illustrations here:http://caskettmyheart.tumblr.com/post/133279642081/spectralseed-here-is-the-art-to-go-with-this

The heart of Paris. Her home of several years. After wandering the city multiple times in her first few years, Carmilla had found the perfect spots to relax and waste time - something she had enough of anyways. Montmartre was always nice to wander while the 14th arrondissement – or the area called Montparnasse – used to be her favorite in Les Années Folles when the artistic life bloomed there. It made her love for Paris greater than it had been before, during the war when she had to leave the city.

Though she didn’t like the tourist-crowded spots, there was one spot among the tourists that she did enjoy from time to time. That was the spot where she was right now. She was located in the 7th arrondissement, more famous as the arrondissement with the Eiffel Tower and the Dôme des Invalides alongside with three famous museums: d’Orsay, Rodin and Musée de Quai Branly. But to Carmilla, it was the location of one of her favorite people-watching spots. She liked to people watch, but it was often more like groaning at the idiot tourists who didn’t know obvious things. Like a tourist taking a picture while walking usually resulted in a stumble, but it rarely made Carmilla laugh. Nowadays she just rolled her eyes. Sometimes there would be a person walking their dog or a family with little kids that would result in something quite funny that got a smirk out of her. But mainly she kept her facial expressions blank.

Her spot was located in the Champ de Mars, the gardens between the Eiffel Tower and the military school. A tree on the right side of the field provided a perfect cover from the sun that was beaming down on her and heating her black leather pants. Her bare feet were being tickled by the grass underneath. It had become tradition for her to lay here, shoes off, in the afternoon sun. The tree basically carried a plaque with her name on it. All the regular sales men knew her and the usual musicians singing along the pathways knew to keep a safe distance. Though she did dislike the stereotypical Parisienne attitude, she did understand it sometimes. The tourists could be quite annoying when you had to move around the city, and any real Parisienne could complain about them for ages over coffee with their friends in the fancy restaurants tourists didn’t go to. They were easy to spot between the masses of people watching the famous monuments. Unusually large hats, fancy clothes and high heels were a must for the older dames, while the younger generation looked more modern and moved swiftly throughout the entire city. Of course, each arrondissement had their clichés.

It was about two thirty in the afternoon when Carmilla noticed someone looking rather lost standing by the main path over by the next tree that consisted of three trunks. She was all alone in a place that was otherwise crowded with groups of people or families that came to rest or play with their kids. And then there was the fact that she kept glancing over in Carmilla’s direction. Carmilla sensed the girl was having an inner battle because the girl constantly looked like she was going to move somewhere but then stopped herself. One hand was on her back while the other was making gestures in front of her as if she was trying to figure out something.

Carmilla honestly tried to ignore the girl the best she could, but the constant hesitation of the girl’s movements was working on her nerves and somehow Carmilla knew it had something to do with her. The little kids screaming, the tourists with their cameras … she had learned to ignore those without problem because they were interested in their surroundings. But this girl seemed to only have eyes for her or the ground beneath her own feet. What was up with that? Carmilla wondered, but she didn’t have to wonder much longer.

The girl silently walked towards her and got her attention with a small humming noise. Carmilla looked up from the page in her book – the one she hadn’t been able to read properly because she kept glancing up at the girl that now stood in front of her. She lifted the sunglasses she was wearing off her nose and put them on the top of her head, simply regarding the girl and giving a nod as if to encourage her to speak.   
“Bonjour.” The girl spoke in her best French, though the English accent was clear with the wrong pronunciation of the ‘r’. Never easy for an English speaker, but Carmilla gave her credit for not horribly butchering the language.   
“J’espère que je ne vous dérange pas,” the girl continued. Carmilla was now actually impressed by this girl’s attempt. Certainly because she actually got the word order right. The girl now looked from Carmilla to her hands which were toying with a single red flower in her hands. Carmilla recognized is as the flowers that decorated the entire Champs de Mars.   
“Je pense que vous êtes vraiment jolie.” The girl held out the big bright flower towards Carmilla and blushed a little as Carmilla’s hand brushed her own when she leaned forward and took the flower from the girl’s hands. It was called Camellia Japonica, and in this case, it was a form called Coquettii which grew on a bush nearby. The meaning of the flower - adoration and perfection - did not go unnoticed by her, and she wondered if the girl knew as much about the meaning of flowers as she did..  
  
Carmilla chuckled, “Did you spend all that time by that tree rehearsing that little speech of yours, or are you just naturally good at speaking French?” Carmilla’s face held a smug grin as the girl stared at her for a moment, mouth slightly ajar in utter surprise.   
“Wait,” a scoff, “You knew I spoke English and you just let me suffer like that? That’s not very nice of you.” Carmilla admired the frown on the still nameless girl standing in from of her. It was cute. The girl was a little shorter than her. Long honey brown straight locks framed her face as she looked down towards Carmilla.   
“Well, Cutie,” Carmilla leaned back against the tree trunk and gave her a small smile, “It didn’t seem like you had much trouble with it anyways.” This seemed to soften the frown on the girl’s face a bit. She heard her grumble a thanks.  
Carmilla broke eye contact to look at the flower in her hands. She took her sunglasses out of her hair and lifted a section of her hair to place the stem of the flower in between two strands of hair. She secured it in place with the strand of hair in her hand.

“It looks good – y-you look nice. Beautiful in fact. Very, very beautiful.” The girl seemed to catch herself in her rambling and immediately shut up as her cheeks turned a faint shade of pink once again. Her eyes studies her hands once more as she bit her lip. Carmilla only looked up at the girl. It really was amusing how this girl was so shy yet so brave to come up to her. She knew her posture screamed to leave her alone.  
Then someone standing on one of the two main paths in the middle of the fields got the girl’s attention. Carmilla had only briefly noticed them before because they were wearing this hideous hoodie with the word SILAS across the front. The girl turned around to look at them while Carmilla simply glanced around the girl, looking at whoever interrupted their conversation. She noticed a change in behavior in the girl as her shoulders fell as the person on the main path waved her over, telling her to return to the group with a slightly raised voice.  
“I’m sorry,” she turned back to Carmilla, who now averted her attention back to the girl in front of her.   
“So, Laura’s your name, huh?” Carmilla stated more than asked.   
She nodded in response. “Yeah, Laura Hollis. That’s me.” She paused for a moment. Carmilla had noticed that her voice was obviously less cheery than before.

  
“We have to go, so I guess this is it.” Laura suddenly lost all of her confidence from before and sounded a tad sad even. Carmilla just hummed in response instead of saying anything in return. The person on the main path called for her again and Laura sighed as she looked back at Carmilla.   
“I’m sorry to have bothered you. Enjoy the rest of your day, au revoir.” She gave Carmilla a sad smile and turned around to walk to the group that had formed on the main path.   
“Merci, petite.” Carmilla spoke up so that Laura could hear her. The girl turned around and halted for a moment. “You made my day.” She figured Laura could use some kind words.  
The smile on Laura’s face was now so genuine and kind. It was the brightest smile Carmilla had seen on any face to this day. At least, that’s how it seemed to her in that moment. Laura turned back around and sped towards the group in a little run while Carmilla’s eyes stayed on her the entire time.

Carmilla noticed a couple of guys who were snickering and glancing between her and Laura, who made her way to the back of the group. She obviously wasn’t the only one that noticed because Laura turned away from them as she passed them. Carmilla could hear one of the guys speaking up so that others in the group could hear, but it wasn’t loud enough for her to make out what exactly they said. She didn’t have to hear to know though. The insult was followed by a burst of laughter by all of the guys – except for one tall guy - and a few other people who Carmilla assumed were students.   
Laura’s entire attitude had changed in a matter of seconds. She stood with her arms crossed over her chest at the back of the row, looking at her feet. The smile was gone, along with the courage it had taken her to go up to a total stranger just to give her a compliment.   
  
The group started to move towards the Eiffel Tower to exit the fields as Laura trailed behind them, ignoring everyone around her, even Carmilla - whose eyes were still on her. The boys were still laughing at her and Carmilla felt a wave of anger towards them. Those boys were mocking Laura for absolutely no reason. They saw the encounter and decided on mocking Laura for simply talking to her, for paying her a compliment? If looks could kill, not one of those boys would still be standing.   
One of the guys – the one that made the comment - met her gaze and his face fell in a split second. Carmilla could see he gulped and looked down at his feet. What a bully.

She hoped Laura would be okay. She wasn’t used to people – let alone strangers - coming up to her and paying her a compliment in such a polite manner. She was used to the annoying catcalls she got every once in a while, but this was old fashioned and it made the young 18 year old girl inside her hard posterior smile.  
  
The group was disappearing out of sight so she decided to look around some more and try to get Laura off her mind, though she knew it was a lost cause. She knew there was not much she could have done to help the petite girl, but still, the situation Laura was in obviously sucked. No one deserved to be bullied for their sexuality. She knew that all too well. She shook the memories out of her mind and looked around.  
She spotted a kid that was learning how to walk in between their parents not too far from her. The small child giggled as they fell down on their butt and let their hands roam in the grass. Two ladies were playing covers of pop songs as one of them played the guitar but both sang. The guitar case was open in front of them and a few people were gathered around to hear them play.   
There were school groups gathered as their teachers talked to them about the time they had to be back in various languages but with the same inattentive students. Carmilla understood half of them. English, German, Dutch, French, Spanish, Russian, even Greek. She’d been to a lot of places and with nothing but time on her hands, she had decided to learn about the culture of the land she was staying in.

Yet, with all those groups, Carmilla did not see Laura again that afternoon. She caught herself wondering about the girl with honey brown hair and sparkling brown eyes more than once. Where could she be right now? Which monument was next on their list? The Notre-Dame Cathedral? Le Louvre? Perhaps the Arc de Triomphe? All the famous tourist attractions ran through her mind. Maybe she was now standing on one of the levels of the Eiffel Tower, looking for her but not being able to spot her because of the tree she was under.

Carmilla, as someone who had never really felt the need to be the tourist in Paris, had been up the Eiffel Tower once or twice in the past. She had been invited to one of Eiffel’s parties in the restaurant up on the first floor. Then, in les Années Folles, she’d been up there again, simply to regard the view. She’d climbed the stairs easily as others around her stopped to catch their breath. Though yes, she found it normal that everyone wanted to see the view from up the Eiffel Tower, the second floor was nice enough, but the view of Paris was never complete. That’s why she liked Montmartre. From there, you could see almost all of Paris with a nice skyline. Or l’Arc de Triomphe, but that, again, was too crowded by tourists for her to visit by day. By night however… she could sneak up on the monument and enjoy the city light. The guards never saw her go in or out of the building. Perks of being super-fast, and a shape shifter.

She felt the sun lose its heat after a while, seeing as it was nearing the evening hours. She actually had plans for the night and decided to make her way homewards seeing as she still had to get ready. Sometimes she took hours to get ready. Not because of all the stuff she had to do, but because she kept reading chapters of whatever book she was reading in between tasks. Or take an hour long bath. Or order some room service. She had done it all at least once to know better by now, yet she still stuck to her lazy ways. She had all the time in the world so no rush, right?

She grabbed the boots that sat beside her, and slipped them over her feet, the shoelaces loose and undone. She sat up and patted her pockets to make sure her wallet and phone were still in place. She pulled out her phone and plugged in some earplugs to listen to some of her favorite songs on the way home. She had enough time to walk all the way along the Seine to Concorde. It would take her about half an hour if she walked fast but she felt lazy so it took her about ten minutes longer than usual. It was a walk she didn’t mind doing because it was relatively quiet, even though it was next to the busy streets of Paris.

She liked Concorde for its excellent location, seeing as she had the Champ de Mars, Muséé d’Orsay, l’Avenue des Champs-Elysées and Jardin des Tuileries with le Louvre all within a few minutes of her apartment. Even the Sacre Coeur on Montmartre was only about thirty minutes away if she took one subway line.

She greeted the two doormen holding the big entrance doors open for her.  
“Bonjour Guillaume, Fredrick. Ça va?” Fredrick responded that everything was well today and wished her a good day while Guillaume walked with her towards the elevator and also said everything was going great so far.  
“Et toi, t’as vu quelque chose intéressante aujourd’hui?” He asked as he regarded the flower still in her hair. They waited for the elevator to come down. Guillaume had always been nice to her and over the past couple of years, they’d become great friends. He just turned twenty-three and came from the northern arrondissements. He always had a smile on his face even though his home life was not that great. He loved his job, and was ever grateful that Carmilla managed to get him into the hotel business even though he was just a doorman right now.   
“Actually, oui.” She gave him a genuine smile, which was something that rarely happened these days. Usually she just shrugged at his question. Nothing she saw on one of her trips was ever interesting enough to mention to him.   
“You’ll tell me zhe history tonighte?” Guillaume had been working on his English, but it was still broken with a heavy French accent. Carmilla knew how hard it was to learn a different language if all you ever heard was your own, so she helped him to find his words and improve his speech.  
“The story, yeah. I’ll fill you in on the way there. Same place and time?”   
Guillaume nodded in response and bid her goodbye as Carmilla got on the elevator and he stayed on the ground floor. His shift stopped at eight and by the time he got ready to go out, it would be nine. She still had a few hours to eat, get ready and read before heading to the usual club.  
She and Guillaume had a sort of system. She’d get him in to fancy clubs every once in a while and he’d take her to the dangerous clubs at the ‘périphérique’ where G lived. They respected her there, though sometimes she and G did run into trouble. But she kind of liked to get away from her life and get into difficult situations. The fights or yelling matches or death threats reminded her that she should be thankful she didn’t grow up in times like that, or neighbourhoods that were filled with violence. Of course her time had been unfair towards the women, but she never had to deal with murder before her own at the ball back in 1698. G hadn’t been as lucky as her and was used to it by now. He used to be scared of having to steal in order to eat, or even getting murdered every single day. But then he got to know Carmilla and she got him the job at the hotel and life started looking out for him.

The doors of the elevator opened up to her penthouse suite and she immediately started to take her clothes off on her way to the bathroom. Her boots came off first, followed by her top and socks that she just threw around somewhere. She didn’t care where they landed. She glanced at the clock that read six o’clock. Yeah, she had plenty of time. She sat down to take off her leather pants, the only thing that wasn’t loose on her body probably, and put them on her bed. She was more careful with her pants because they were probably her favorite piece of clothing. She slipped into the ensuite bathroom and regarded herself in the mirror. She had almost forgotten about the flower she had put in between her locks. She took it out very carefully and held it in her hands. The beauty of the petals were slightly fading already. Carmilla walked back out the bathroom and decided to dry the flower instead of trying to revive it. This way, it could live forever by her side. Or in a book to be more specific. She took out the book she had been reading by the tree and put the flower in between the pages she had been trying to read when Laura had walked up to her.  
She finally got into her shower after ordering pizza from room service, telling them to get it ready by seven if they could – which she knew they’d take care of. Anything for her their Carmilla.

Most of the staff here knew her. After all, she’d been living here for the past seven years. Her look had changed a bit but her demeanor had not. She was kind to those who deserved it, and rude to the ones that thought she was just a silly little girl. All she had to do was drop her last name and they’d be kissing her boots asking if they could help her with anything. That’s how Mother would treat them. And it was most certainly how she did not.

After a nice hot and steamy shower she stood in front of her closet. She and G were going to one of their regular hangouts at his side of town tonight so nothing fancy was needed. Seeing as it could still get a bit chilly in Paris during this time of the year – May – she went with her long black leg-hugging pants that were ripped at the knee. She decided on a simple black tank top with her leather jacket to top it off. It was the perfect look that told everyone not to mess with her. The people that knew her didn’t have to be told, but sometimes, some guys didn’t get the memo.

Eyeliner and lipstick were expertly done after she ate her pizza for dinner that was brought up at exactly seven pm. She put on her favorite rings and omnipresent anchor necklace before choosing a black leather band as bracelet. She was ready to go but she still had some time on her hands, as usual. She decided to read some more until nine o’clock neared and she got down to the lobby where Guillaume was already waiting for her. He’d changed his work attire – a suit – for a casual shirt and jeans. His sneakers nearly had holes in them but if he showed up with his new kicks that Carmilla had bought him for his birthday, he’d get mugged for sure.

G was sure to ask her about what she’d spotted today that made her day more interesting than usual. He asked the question every day Carmilla came back from her day out, and never had she anything special to say. Carmilla explained to him what happened in English. He was sure to ask when he couldn’t understand something but he was doing really well today. Since the line they usually took from Concorde to Porte de la Chapelle was under construction, they had to change stops once to get there. G lived close to the station and used to work at the Novotel that was there before Carmilla got him his current job that came with a bigger paycheck, a nicer neighbourhood and better friends.

They met up with some friends of G outside of the club. They all knew Carmilla and respected her as one of their own - even though she was a girl which some crew found problematic - and she wasn’t from their neighbourhood. Other Parisiennes looked down on them because they weren’t of the same standards. Many of their dads worked on the streets as illegal sales men and these young men were expected to do the same until Carmilla came around and helped them to a job or showed them they could be better.

There were no lines outside of the clubs at this part of town, just a guy who served as bouncer to make sure rival groups or gangs didn’t get in. It was still quiet at the club because it was still well before midnight. Many had just arrived home from a long shift and wanted to relax a little before going to a bar or club. By midnight, people came to the clubs to forget about their misery for a few hours and get maybe a little too loose with their stronger than normal drinks and even drugs.

Carmilla kept away from the white powder lined up on a table in the back room of the club. It wouldn’t have any effect on her anyways, so why go through the trouble? Alcohol was the same. It had little to no effect on her but she did like to drink it from time to time. She liked how it tasted on her tongue and burned in her throat without the aftermath that normal people had. Sure she did feel a slight buzz, but she would have to drink a hell of a lot to get anywhere near as drunk as people got after a few shots.

After dancing and talking with some of the guys, she caught a somewhat familiar face out of the corner of her eye around midnight. She turned and spotted the guy from earlier in the Champ de Mars. It was the same jerk that had made fun of Laura. What the hell was a school student doing in a club? In this neighbourhood. God, were all teenagers nowadays just plain stupid? It wasn’t just him either. There were a bunch of pale faces that she didn’t recognize in the club. Most of the people that lived in the northern arrondissements were people of color, and rarely white. It’s not like everyone knew each other, but new people in the club were unusual. Especially white people. The bouncer let new people in, unless he knew they were connected to a gang or group of trouble makers. Students were not on that list. So here they were now, in Guillaume and Carmilla’s usual club.

The students seemed to ignore the looks they got from the locals as they ordered drinks for themselves. It wasn’t like they checked ID’s here. Any money was good enough to get a drink around here. Carmilla figured they were underage though, meaning below 18 in France. The students took full advantage of the bartender not checking their ID’s and ordered whatever they pleased. Beers and cocktails were passed in between eager hands and loud mouths.

She tried to ignore the bunch of imbeciles that were on their way to getting more than just a little drunk, and went back to Guillaume. She liked to dance with him, and though they were never more than just friends, they did get a little dirty sometimes. It’s just the way it was, and neither of them minded. G knew Carmilla only wanted girls, just like she knew that she was just a cover he could use to hide part of him. In his household and group of friends, being anything other than cis and straight was a death sentence. Having a pretty girl on his arm helped to keep up his act. It helped that he once did have a crush on her, but then he spotted a really good looking guy and got to know him because of Carmilla. That girl had connections everywhere. Now he was together with the guy while he pretended to be into Carmilla. It helped Guillaume keep up an image he had created for himself and helped Carmilla get rid of the unwanted attention of guys at the clubs.

She managed to keep her mind off the obvious future frat boys, until they started to get loud and pushy. One of the guys yelled in English so that all his friends could hear, believing she wouldn’t be able to understand. “Hey, check out that hottie! Maybe she can grind on me next and ditch the loser.” To which most of the group laughed. One tall guy to the side glanced at her and then looked deep into his glass. He knew she had understood his ‘friends’ but didn’t say anything to stop them. He gave her an apologetic look. G, who hadn’t really understood what had been said, decided that he had to use the bathroom that exact moment and left her to dance on her own.

The group made a howling noise and the guy who had yelled came towards her, wobbly and with a drink in his hand. The tall guy tried to hold him back but it was no use. Without a word, the bonehead circled his arms around her waist and pulled her towards him. She turned in a split second and smacked him across the face with such force that it sent him stumbling backwards. Her ring leaving a small cut on his cheek.  
“Don’t you fucking dare touch a girl without her permission! Ever. You understand, idiot?” Her fists were balled at her side. She could feel the rage building inside her as the friends of the asshole made the typical ‘oooh’ sound when someone ‘got burned’.   
“What the fuck?” The guy stood back upright, a hand resting on his cheek.   
She glared at his friends who were laughing but they immediately shut up when they say her death stare. The guy turned back and muttered _bitch_ as he walked away, rubbing his cheek.

The tall guy turned to her and mouthed an apology. He actually looked genuinely sorry for what his supposed ‘friend’ had done. As she saw his, her nails dug out of her palm and her features softened, she felt her teeth lose their sharp edge too. It wasn’t that guy’s fault. She realized the guy was probably putting up an act just like she and G did. He was only pretending to go along with them to stay on their good side. She nodded to him as if to say that it was okay. He gave her a lopsided smile and turned back around but his eyes halted on something in the corner of the room. She followed his gaze and found the precious girl from the park standing there. _Laura_. She took a sharp intake of breath at the sight of her here.

  
Laura was holding onto her drink, sipping it silently as her eyes skimmed the room. She looked very out of place and uncomfortable. It was obvious to Carmilla that the girl with the sparkling brown eyes didn’t belong with the other groups in the club but that she didn’t want to be the ‘loser’ who stayed in the hotel. Carmilla decided she’d buy the girl a drink and go over, just in good fortune. Nothing wrong with just saying hello and buying a drink for her, right? Right.

As she was waiting for Alex - the bartender - to get her drinks, she turned back to look at the corner where Laura was previously standing alone to find it now crowded with the group of assholes from before, all except for the tall guy. The guys surrounded her and were obviously imposing Laura’s personal space. Didn’t these guys ever get the memo? It’s not okay to do that. Not to her, not to Laura, not to anyone.

The guys towered over the tiny girl that seemed to shrink in size as the guys intimidated her. Carmilla didn’t hesitate a moment when she saw one of the guys move a hand through her blonde locks and whisper in Laura’s ear. Laura seemed frozen in place and didn’t attempt to stop him in any way, but looked clearly so uncomfortable with him near her.   
She pushed herself away from the bar and she was pulling the guy away from Laura in a second, leaving the drinks at the bar.

“Hey, didn’t you get the memo, asshole? Get the fuck away from her. Leave her alone.” She was poking the guy’s chest as he backed up against the wall. The other guys had scattered and the one she had cornered was now pale faced and holding his hands up in defense. “Didn’t I tell you not to harass people about five seconds ago?”   
“Hey I was just messing around.” He tried to downplay it. There was no downplaying harassment.   
“You see, I don’t think Laura here thinks it was very funny. Get your loser friends and get out of here before I get your asses locked up in jail for underage drinking, or maybe worse: humiliate you in front of your friends.” The guy just swallowed in response. “Now, get out.” She took a step back and he ran to his group of friends before they all scurried out the door, but not before Carmilla put out her foot to make him stumble. Some of the regulars were laughing at the sight but Carmilla had other concerns. She turned towards Laura who was all too silent and shaking. Carmilla gave her a small smile and put a hand close to Laura’s arm, hovering over it but didn’t touch her.  
“They’re gone. Are you okay?”  
Laura opened up her mouth to speak but nothing came out. She bit her lip and shook her head as tears formed in her eyes. Carmilla felt the need to comfort the girl, which was something she was unfamiliar with. But having been in a similar situation herself once before, she knew exactly how Laura was feeling. She opened her arms and Laura took the invitation to hug Carmilla. The tiny blonde’s arms circled her neck and pulled her close as she felt tears fall onto her shoulder. The weird thing was that this hug with a stranger, this form of affection she normally found totally awkward, didn’t feel weird at all. In fact, she even relaxed a bit into the strong arms that held on to her as if she was her lifeline.

Carmilla murmured reassuring words into her hair as she ran her hand through the girl’s hair and kiss the side of her head. She turned her head a bit after a moment and spoke softly into Laura’s ear.   
“Do you want to go home?” In response, she felt Laura nod into her shoulder which was followed by a sniff.   
Laura loosened her grip on Carmilla and allowed herself to be led out the door by Carmilla, who stopped to say something to Guillaume to inform him what was going on. She purposely spoke in French so that Laura wouldn’t have to hear. Fast French with some _Verlan_ mixed in wasn’t easy to understand.

It was quite cold outside as it was not yet summer. The fresh air was a relief to both of them and felt freeing.   
“Thanks,” Laura spoke softly, wiping away some tears, “If you hadn’t been there it probably would have gone on like that for a while.   
“You shouldn’t let them treat you like that, Petite.” They started walking towards the big crossing on the end of the street.   
“I know but…” Laura trailed off and left Carmilla to finish her sentence.   
“It’s not as easy as it sounds. I know, I learned that the hard way too.”  
Laura shrugged, “They tease a lot, and I’ve learned to cope.” _Learning to cope_ with something like that meant it happened way too often and that no one was doing anything about it. It sounded to Carmilla as though she was trying to convince herself that this was the truth. Either way, Carmilla say the truth in the girl’s eyes as they stared ahead of them, avoiding Carmilla’s darker ones.

“So,” Carmilla started, wanting to cheer up the girl a bit, “Where are you staying? Novotel? IBIS? Because this isn’t your usual school trip activity.” This seemed to make Laura smile just a bit. Good, Carmilla thought. We’re getting somewhere.   
“We’re saying at the IBIS hotel just over there.” Laura pointed towards the bridge of the Périférique where trash was collected as if it was a junkyard. Behind it were the two hotels Carmilla had named, the one next to the IBIS hotel being the one where Guillaume had worked before.   
“The entire class decided to go out and I didn’t want to be the only one who didn’t go.” Laura sighed and shook her head as she let out a dry laugh. “I should have just stayed in. I knew it wasn’t a good idea anyways.”

“Hey,” Carmilla stopped dead in her tracks which made Laura halt as well, “Don’t let them bring you down. They’re not worth it, Petite.”  
She got a smile. A real, bright smile like the one from the earlier was now covering Laura’s face. Carmilla saw it was genuine in the way Laura’s eyes brightened just a little bit.  
Laura nodded as though she just promised something to herself, “Yeah, okay. I’ll try better next time.”  
The fact that there was a ‘next time’ at the end of that sentence broke Carmilla’s heart, metaphorically of course. The fact that Laura was just letting this happen probably meant it had been going on for a long time. She didn’t seem like someone to just stand down and let it happen. Then again, Carmilla just met her. Still, there was this unwavering courage inside Laura, Carmilla was sure of that. People rather avoided her, but Laura just walked up to her and payed her a compliment. If that wasn’t courage for someone who is being bullied, she wasn’t sure what is.

“And hey,” Laura pulled her out of her thoughts, “I’m not that small! You’re only like an inch taller than me!” This caught Carmilla so off guard that she actually chuckled.   
“Yeah well, you’re still tiny. And you’re cute, so it fits you.” She was referring to the nickname Laura was complaining about. Laura blushed at the mention of Carmilla thinking she was cute, but soon silence fell over them again as they walked along in the darkness.  
When the hotel came into view, Laura turned to Carmilla.  
“So,” a pause, “I guess this is it.” She sounded a bit disappointed. No, gravely disappointed actually.   
“Yeah.” Carmilla regarded the girl as if she wanted to try and remember all her little features. Her sparkly brown eyes and honey brown hair which framed her face so perfectly. Their small but significant height difference. And most importantly, the way Laura was looking at her. There was this silent gratitude in her eyes but also something else. Adoration didn’t seem to be the right thing. It was a look that spoke a thousand words. Whatever it was, it gave Carmilla a warm feeling in her chest that spread throughout her entire – otherwise cold – body.

Carmilla was the first to break eye contact. Her hands were playing with the anchor necklace around her neck. “Don’t let them bully you for being true to yourself, Creampuff. In a few years, they’ll be gone and you’ll be a happier person because you’ve always stayed true to who you are, even in the darker times.” She looked back at Laura whose eyes were tearing up a bit. She blinked and looked away from Carmilla, trying to keep them from spilling. When that didn’t work, she wiped them away with her sleeve.   
“And it’s okay to be sad sometimes.” Carmilla lifted Laura’s chin with her finger. “As long as you remember that it truly does get better in the end.” She gave Laura a heartwarming smile which got returned just as brightly. Her fingers stilled around the anchor. Was she really about to do this?

She let the anchor go and moved her hands around the silver chain and lifted up over her head. She looked at the anchor as it laid in the palm of her hand. After a second of studying it closely, she looked up to see Laura regarding her curiously.   
“Here.” She took Laura’s hand in hers and dropped the anchor into it with the other. “It brought me strength when I doubted myself, once. Perhaps now it may do the same for you.”  
Laura looked slightly shocked. “I can’t. It obviously means a lot to you. You should keep it.” Laura tried handing it back but Carmilla’s hands were firmly tucked away in her pants pockets.   
“I insist. It’s time for me to let go, and for you to hold on. See it as a gesture of good faith.”  
“Thanks,” there was that cute lopsided smile again. She had to admit, it was kind of adorable. “For everything.”  
Carmilla shrugged and slowly moved backwards, slowly putting one foot behind the other. She’d never been good with her feelings but until this moment, she hadn’t really thought much of it. Now it was starting to weigh her down. Time to go, then. She never really let people come this close. She hadn’t talked about her past with anyone and she sure wasn’t planning on spilling her guts now.  
“No big deal, Cupcake.” She took in the girl one last time before she spoke and turned around. “You should get inside, Petite, and I should get going.”  
She heard the girl move behind her. Laura reached out for her but held her distance.   
“Wait! I don’t even know your name…”  
Carmilla turned around again and smirked.   
“I have to keep some of my mysteries, don’t I?”  
“How will I find you then? You know, to return your necklace.” It was an excuse and they both knew it.  
Carmilla kept walking backwards as she looked at Laura, no hesitation clear in her steps.   
“You won’t.” She spoke and Laura’s hopeful look wavered and confusion showed on her features. “But I will.” Carmilla gave her one last smirk and a wink before turning around. Perhaps it was on purpose, perhaps she was being just a little tease, but there was just a bit more sway in her hips as she walked away from the honey brown eyes that were following her until she was out of their sight.


	2. Wisteria

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find the Illustrations here: http://caskettmyheart.tumblr.com/post/133279642081/spectralseed-here-is-the-art-to-go-with-this

_You won’t, but I will._ Five simple words. Words that were haunting her for three days now. Laura was sitting on the bus that would bring them back home. She was staring out the window as she watched the landscape fly by. The music in her ears drained out most of the noises her classmates made but it was far from everything. She could still hear the guys in the back of the bus burst out in laughter every once in a while. She was certain she was the cause of their amusement at least once.  
The bullying had only been worse after she met the beautiful young woman. The guys had seen her talking to the lone stranger by the tree and had teased her for it. Then when said stranger confronted them in the bar, they decided to work it out on her because she was the closest thing they had to a punching bag. No literal punches were thrown, but the teasing and laughing never stopped from that point on. The following two days in Paris were hell. They got almost everyone involved. The entire year of students was either laughing with Jason and his ‘gang’, or avoiding her because they didn’t want any trouble. The only three friends she had left were at home because they’re a year older, and she was here on the bus from Paris to Styria, all alone.

She let her hand fall to the anchor necklace. She was happy with it because it reminded her how there were still good people out there. People that had gone through this before and had made it perfectly well once they were out of high school. People that were kind and accepting. People that didn’t care about sexual orientation. People like that beautiful stranger. She still can’t believe that she didn’t ask for her name sooner. Now she was stuck with the description ‘beautiful stranger’ and that just didn’t fit anymore. The stranger part. The part about her being stunning still fit.

From the back of the bus, a burst of laughter disturbed her thoughts. She shook her head as she heard her name once again but decided to ignore them. They were bullies, not good for anything but pain in her life. God, when was she getting out of this god forsaken place?

Laura reached into her bag and grabbed her notebook and pen. She kept a diary but since she didn’t want to take her diary from home – in case Jason or one of this boys snatched it – she made a notebook just for her trip to Paris. She wrote down all sorts of stuff. She described how she felt standing in places like place de la Concorde where Marie-Antoinette was beheaded along with her husband Louis XVI, or how she felt when she stood on top on the Eiffel Tower. But she also wrote down her encounter with the still nameless young woman. She made sure to make it as detailed as possible because she didn’t want to forget anything about it. And with that encounter, came the reaction of the boys. She wrote about how they still called her names. How Jason had whispered in her ear that he’d like to see her kiss her _girlfriend_ for his amusement. How he wished he could change her mind about liking girls because he was _oh so good_ in bed. In that moment, she’d been terrified because he towered over her. Now she simply rolled her eyes at him. What was it with these kind of jerks?  
This is exactly why she liked to write. It helped her with her feelings. She could pour them all down on paper and no one would find out. Besides, it was good practice for later. An aspiring journalist couldn’t practice enough, right? Even though it weren’t news topics she was covering, all bits helped.  
  
One of her favorite songs started playing on her iPod and she put her notebook away on the seat next to her. She liked to mouth the words as she enjoyed the melody carrying her away from her surroundings. She wouldn’t want to be caught dead actually singing – not here, not now – but without making any sound, she could still test her memory on how well she kept remembering the song. She knew it by heart but she never got enough of it.  
  
When she lifted her head from against the window on her right, she got pulled back to reality. In the silence between songs, she heard familiar words being read out loud. She glanced at the seat next to her to find her notebook gone. She snapped her head towards the back and watched in horror as Jason read from the pages she’d just filled with words as his gang laughed.

Jason’s voice rang through her ears as she composed herself and got up from her seat, pulling out her earplugs and disregarding her other stuff.  
_“… I saw her sitting there beneath that tree at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. She looked to beautiful. I had to say something to her_ -“ Jason was imitating her, putting on a high voice and acting overdramatic.  
“Jason, give me my notebook back!” Laura yelled. She’d had enough of this shit. She was standing in the hallway of the bus, right in front of Jason with her hand stretched out.  
“Laura!” His voice sickly sweet and full of mocking innocence.  “We were just talking about you and your girlfriend!” He was daring her react to what he’d said and she knew it. The ‘ignore him’ tactic hadn’t been working for the last couple of years and she had made a promise to the brunette. She’d try her best not to let them get to her, and stand up for herself. Now was the time to show them what she was made of. Really. She’d tried before, but it always backfired. This time, she wasn’t taking any of their shit.  
“Give me my notebook, jerk.” Her fists were balled up in anger. They all ‘oh’-ed before laughing at her.  
Jason just smirked, “No need for name-calling, dyke.” He spit out the last word as if it was poison in this mouth. This just made Laura even more furious. She was done taking their sexist and homophobic insults.  
In one swift move, she grabbed the wrist of the hand that was holding the notebook. This seemed to startle him enough so that she could snatch the notebook out of his hands.  
“Oh, someone just crossed the line.” Jason’s mocking tone had changed into a mean growl. He stood up, towering over her. He had to lean forward as to keep his head from hitting the low ceiling of the bus but this just meant he was nearly leaning over her.  
She was about to speak again when one of the guys – Kirsch – stepped out from his seat and put a hand on Jason’s shoulder, pulling him back in his seat.  
“Hey Jase. That’s enough.” His voice was softer than Jason’s menacing tone but it was a firm warning to his friend.  
Suddenly all of the other guys grew quiet. Jason regarded Kirsch as if he’d just dared him to a fight. It sure seemed like he did to Laura. No one told Jason when to stop, he’d made that clear before. Yet Kirsch didn’t seem to back down.  
“Leave her alone, k?” Kirsch grabbed his bag from his seat and gave Laura a slight nudge. “Let’s go Laura. You have a seat free next to you, right?” Laura nodded in response, not sure how to react to the whole situation that had just played out in front of her.  
“Is it okay if I come sit next to you?” She nodded again and started to move back towards her own seat, her notebook clutched between her arm and chest.  
When they sat down, Laura at the window and Kirsch in the aisle seat so that he could stretch his legs, she regarded him for a moment. He seemed to notice and gave his answer to her silent question.  
“I’m sorry I never spoke up before. I know I should have, before, but now they were going way too far. I’m not letting anyone call you a- a…” he was clearly struggling with saying the word, “that _word_ again. Especially not them.” Kirsch gave her a weak smile.  
“It’s okay Kirsch. I’m glad you did now.” Laura put her notebook away. All she really knew about Kirsch was that he was held back a year, that he was insanely tall, like her friend Danny, and that he was never one of the boys actively making her a target.  
“My moms would be very disappointed in me if I didn’t.” He shrugged. Well this was new information. Not that she thought in a heteronormative way, but in her school rumors went around and she’d never picked up anything about Kirsch or his family.  
“Do they know?” It was somehow the only question on her mind. She couldn’t imagine those guys knowing something like that and not teasing him about it either.  
“No, they don’t. You’re the first person I’ve told. I don’t trust them.” Laura could understand why.  
“Yeah, you’re good not to.” Laura looked up at him and put her hand of her shoulder.

They were silent for most of the way home, commenting on some things every once in a while. It was kind of nice to have the silence surround them. It took the other kids in the back of the bus a while to start acting normal again but eventually they too became part of the white noise in the background. And though Kirsch and Laura didn’t talk much, she never felt uncomfortable or lonely. Laura listened to music some more until the battery of her iPod died. Kirsch was watching a show on his phone and after catching Laura glancing over to watch fragments a couple of times, he pulled out his earplugs and offered her one side of the pair. She gladly took it and watched along with him. They never heard the guys in the back mention her name again, or laugh so obviously loud that she’d notice.

When they finally arrived in Styria after hours and hours of driving, she looked back on the day with a smile. After all, she’d made a new friend. Someone she never even expected to befriend, but it was a nice change. She was probably going to call LaFontaine, Danny and Perry this weekend and tell them all about the encounter.

When her head hit her pillow, there were no tears streaming down her face and instead, a small smile crept onto her face as she dreamt of better days. Days of joy, before she got outed by a so-called-friend. Before the bullying started. Before her mom passed away. Before all of the misery began. But strangely enough, also about a still nameless brunette with an anchor around her neck who gave her courage once more after she thought she had lost hope.

 

 

Carmilla found herself sitting against the same tree about a week later. She knows the words she spoke to Laura contradicted what she was thinking right now. She said she would find Laura and go to her, yet she kept glancing up from her book, hoping to catch a glimpse of honey brown hair walking around the fields. No such luck, though.  
She couldn’t focus on the words on the pages of her book. Her mind kept going back to the events that played out last time she was here and how adorable Laura really was, coming up to her to give her a Camellia flower. She caught herself smiling at the memory. Her fingers skimmed the book to the page where the dried flower sat. She took it delicately out of the book and let her fingers feel the petals. She glanced up at the bush the flower had unmistakably come from and smiled. Laura had really thought it through, hadn’t she?

She couldn’t stop her mind from going back to the beautiful brown eyes and the funny English accent the girl had tried so hard to hide. _Shit_ , this wasn’t supposed to happen. She wanted to see Laura again, and that was the problem. There was a reason even her closest friend Guillaume, didn’t know a lot about her. She didn’t do well in relationships with other people and only ended up heartbroken when she had to say goodbye. Because without growing old together, love is just heartbreak. She had learnt that the hard way before and she hadn’t really planned on reliving that memory. Yet here she was.

But how could she not like Laura? In the brief moments they spoke, they shared both happy and sad moments together. Truth was, she would probably never see Laura again. She hadn’t left Paris in years. She wasn’t planning on leaving the city before she met Laura and now she was actually considering it? For a girl she had only spoken to for about half an hour. Had it really been that long since she had a normal talk with someone that she just liked the first girl she talked to? God, she was such an idiot.

She stood up from her spot when she found herself getting frustrated with herself, unable to let the words of her book soothe her mind. She pulled on her boots and shoved the book into her bag, which she swung over her shoulder. She started walking her trusted way back to Place de la Concorde when she found herself looking into the water of the Seine by her side. There was a couple on the other side of the river, sitting on a park bench. The dark skinned guy with curly black hair had bright red roses in his hands with one single white rose in between the bouquet. He got down on one knee as the other guy, a fair skinned blond, gaped at him in total shock. Carmilla watched as his arms flung around what she assumed was now his future husband.  
Once upon a time – god she hated that line - when she was a young, gullible girl, she had wanted the same, simple thing. She learned soon enough that love was anything but simple. Especially in her age and time back then.

She shook her mind free of the memories and walked along the Seine, on her way to her room in the hotel she had learned to call home. It didn’t really feel like a home though. It wasn’t that she hated the place, but it could be better. When her childhood home with her loving mother, father and her siblings all faded into history, she realized she’d probably never feel at home in any other place ever again. Maman had taken her to various places like St. Petersburg, New York, Moscow, London or even Venice when it was still beautiful and not touristic, and she always thought she could make it her home. Yet something always held her back.  
In Paris, there was no Maman. She was finally on her own after about three hundred years of her Mother watching over her shoulder. For some reason, Maman never liked Paris much and avoided the city, except the Palace of Versailles of course. She’d dragged Carmilla to countless parties held there. Carmilla never questioned her Mother about not liking Paris, not after the first time she ever tried to get to know Maman. There was no questioning, reasoning or disobeying Mother without paying the prize. Paris had always been Carmilla’s escape when she wanted to get away for a while. Though she had never stayed as long as she had now. Was she ready to leave her safe haven for a girl she didn’t really know? She made up her mind the moment she walked through the doors of her hotel, greeting the doormen. She halted by one of the young guys she knew was friends with Guillaume.  
“Bonjour Charlie. Est-ce que Guillaume est ici aujourd’hui?” She spoke, unsure of what she would tell G once she got to the point of no return.  
“Oui, bien sûr. Vous voulez lui parler?” The boy’s smile was wide and grateful, as always.  
“Oui, envoyer-le dès que possible, s’il vous plaît. Merci bien, Charlie.” She gave him a grateful nod before moving towards the stairs. She didn’t feel like waiting inside a metal box today and instead, raced up the many, many stairs to her suite. Her body remained undisturbed as always. Sometimes she missed the feeling of losing her breath from running too fast. Today was not one of those days.  
She took the elevator for the last few floors since her penthouse wasn’t accessible by stairs, and sighed when the elevator doors slid open to reveal the familiar room.

\--

There was a knock on her door about thirty minutes later. She stood draped in a towel in her living area of the suite. She wrapped her dripping hair in another towel and let Guillaume in. He’d seen her in all kinds of state, this was nothing new to them.  
“Qu’est-ce qui s’est passé, C? Why zhe need to call for me?” He sat himself down on the couch and leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees. He looked serious. So did she. Carmilla regarded him and sighed.  
“Guillaume, I might be making a big mistake here, but I have to get out of here. I can’t stay here in this city any longer.” Carmilla walked into her bedroom in search of some clothes while she gave him a moment to come to terms with the news.  
After a moment, he spoke. “Carmilla, you’re leaving? Quand?” He didn’t ask why, and she felt grateful for that.  
“Tomorrow.” She said as she leant against the doorframe, watching his reaction.  
He slowly nodded. “Will you ever come back?” He asked tentatively. She shrugged in response.  
“Who knows?” she sighed and walked over to him, taking a seat beside him on the couch. “All I know is that I’ve been here for far too long. If I stay here, nothing will change. I think it’s time I deserve some happiness in my life.” Her voice sounded more determined than she felt.  
He put his arm around her and pulled her into his side. She let her head fall onto his shoulder.  
“I understand. Promise me to send me a card from where ever you are? You did a lot for me, I’d like to know you’re safe.” He was such a good guy. Out of all the people in her life that have come and gone, Guillaume was the most like family, even if it could only last for a little while. She could never tell him about her deep dark secret. And even if she’d stayed a little longer, she’d have to move from her suite in a year time anyway or her secret would surely be revealed one way or another. She’d known him for almost seven years now. Nobody stayed entirely the same for seven years.  
“Of course.” She put her hand of his for a moment before standing up. “I don’t want to keep you from your work, G. And besides, I have to pack.” She didn’t really have a lot of stuff that were in fact her own and not the hotel’s. G knew as much but didn’t question her. He stood up as well and kissed her forehead.  
“Will you come say goodbye before you leave?” Guillaume looked at her with his soft brown eyes. She could see he was more affected by this than he led on.  
She could only nod, not trusting her voice to betray that she was unsure if she would. She was never good at goodbyes because the only times she really had them, she’d lost people to the one fate she would never face. Death. She knew it wasn’t the same with Guillaume but she still wasn’t sure if she would be able to say goodbye to the one guy she could consider a real friend.


	3. Blue Salvia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here are the illustrations: http://caskettmyheart.tumblr.com/post/133279642081/spectralseed-here-is-the-art-to-go-with-this

It hadn’t been hard to find the girl with honey blonde hair and sparkling brown eyes called Laura Hollis. As it turned out, the young girl was quite active online. Though Carmilla rather avoided the internet, it proved itself useful enough when she needed it to be. She had simply looked Laura up and found some social media accounts on the most popular networks. When she was scrolling through some of the information on one of the accounts, she had come across a picture tagged in a place called Silas. It was the same word she’d seen on someone’s hoodie when she first met Laura in the Champs de Mars. She had done quick search and planned her route to Silas High School, located in Styria.

All she had to do now was walk out of this room and her new life could begin. She’d never had trouble with leaving her old life behind before, so why was it a million times harder this time?  
She was standing by the large floor to ceiling window in her hotel suite for the last time, her backpack filled with her most precious belongings. She had planned on taking everything at once but that would have slowed her down. Guillaume had offered to send her box full of books to her new address once she was settled, along with another box of stuff she would have otherwise had to leave behind. She was very grateful for the friend she would now leave behind to move to a new place, and start a new life.

She let her eyes travel over the sunrise that painted the sky a beautiful pallet of orange and pink once more before turning around, grabbing her leather jacket of the couch, and making her way to the door. The map to Silas was tucked into the back pocket of her pants, and her supply of “soy milk” was packed away for the road. She was ready to go.

 

\--

 

“Laura! Hey Laura, wait up!” Kirsch jogged up to her to match her pace as she walked towards her school building. She had been dreading going back to school after Paris but she had to pull herself through. She would be back with her friends LaFontaine, Perry and Danny. And now, maybe even Kirsch. He seemed nice enough after what happened on the bus, she just never thought of him as anything other than just one of _those_ guys.

“Morning!” He smiled as he caught up with her and fell into her step. She looked up to him and returned the greeting, her left hand holding the strap of her backpack in place, the other held the anchor around her neck clutched tightly to her chest. His smile was very bright and he seemed to be genuinely happy, which was a nice change in atmosphere around her. This weekend had been dull. Trying to find a mystery girl online with no image or name was hard. Even with the new technology she and every most other teens in western culture possessed nowadays. Try to google “dark haired beauty” without having all the pictures be of Laura Prepon, then you’ll see how hard it is.  
“Morning, Kirsch.” She gave him a small smile.  
He bumped his elbow softly into her shoulder. It would have been shoulder to shoulder if he wasn’t that enormously tall. “Ready for today?”  
Laura shrugged in response. “As ready as I’ll ever be, I suppose.”  
Kirsch stopped her a few meters in front of the main entrance steps.  
“Hey little L, if those guys bother you, I’m here to help. I’m totally doing this out of the bro-ness of my heart, okay? You’re a better bro than those people ever have been to me. I thought were my friends.”  
Okay, so he wasn’t the smartest with words, but his heart was in the right place. Laura learned that over the weekend when Kirsch had added her on a few social media platforms and asked how she was doing and wasn’t taking her dismissive answers.  
“I’m sorry they’re such jerks, Kirsch.” Laura sent an apologetic look his way but he showed a crooked smile in response with a shrug.  
“Don’t apologize, it’s not your fault they act that way.”

They walked into the building together and separated. He had some other friends who weren’t total jerks to say hello to, and she had her three redheaded friends waiting for her by their lockers. LaFontaine spotted her first.  
“There she is! Our little française. How was Paris?” They asked with a bright smile as she reached them. When her three friends had gone to Paris last year, they had all enjoyed themselves a bit too much. Danny had gushed all about the buildings and monuments they saw that she’d read about while Perry admired the city for keeping the streets clean. They’d stayed at a different hotel than Laura had and never left the city center so Perry never saw how bad of the outer ring of Paris actually was. LaFontaine had ranted on and on about the Catacombs and how there were bones upon bones upon bones just stacked deep underground. How millions of people were buried there and how she’d touched an actual skull while no one was looking – it was forbidden but they just couldn’t help themselves.  
Laura shrugged, “It was okay.” She avoided their eyes as she opened her locker and started putting her books in. She was sure they wouldn’t be pleased with her answer, but it was the only thing she could say without giving too much away of how bad the teasing had become, but also of how good it was meeting the stranger.  
“Okay? _Okay_?? Laura, you were in the city of _love_! It had to be more than just ‘okay’.” LaFontaine said first, followed suit by Danny who closed her locker and leaned against it, crossing her arms while she spoke.  
“Yeah, what about all the monuments? The beautiful view from atop the Eiffel Tower? All of the history packed there. Wasn’t it nice?”  
“Well, yeah but…” Laura sighed as she faced Danny, her hands flying to her necklace to play with the anchor, “I liked the sights and the history. That was all really great but I am glad to be back home. There’s not much love in the city of love when you don’t have someone to share it with.” She trailed off the last bit as she turned her attention back to her locker. She didn’t really want to say anything about the dark haired stranger yet. She had decided over the weekend not to mention her encounter with her to them. She figured she could keep the woman to herself, at least for a little while. Otherwise there would be questions. Questions she couldn’t really answer and she wasn’t sure she was ready for that.  
  
Danny narrowed her eyes at Laura and studied her for a moment. “What did they do this time?” Laura should have known Danny wouldn’t waste much time to hear her out. Not a week passed by without those guys trying something, her three friends knew that as well.  
“Well, it was the usual.” Laura started, “It just got to me a bit because I didn’t have you guys by my side. But then in the bus on the way back, I had enough. Right when I thought Jason was actually going to try something, Kirsch stands up and holds him back.” Laura actually got a bit more enthusiastic when she thought about the encounter, being proud of herself for finally standing up for herself.  
“Woah woah, wait. Kirsch? You mean that guy that is convinced he’s going to join a fraternity when – or rather if - he gets into university. The one that uses the word ‘bro’ way too much?” Danny was in defense mode now. Laura knew Danny was not fond of the entire group of guys that were in Laura’s class but this seemed rather personal.  
“Well, yeah. But he’s so much more than that. He’s really cool actually.” Danny scoffed in return and crossed her arms. What happened between those two?  
“I’m glad he helped you Laura. More people should stand up to bullies like that.” Perry said as she closed her locker. “We should get to class though. Come on sweetie.” She turned to LaF and slipped her hand into theirs before tugging on it so that LaF would follow. They quickly shut their locker and waved at Danny and Laura as Perry dragged them along.

Right when Danny was about to say something to Laura, they were interrupted by Kirsch yelling.  
“Little L!” He came towards them and Danny groaned. Laura shot her a look before turning to face Kirsch.  
“Yeah?” She answered a little too happily, trying not to let Danny’s attitude get noticed.  
“I just wanted to tell you that they shouldn’t be a bother anymore. Some of the guys came up to me and told me they’re on my side in all this. They wanted to apologize but had to get to class.” Right at that moment the bell rang and people started closing their lockers and walking to class.  
“I guess that’s my queue. Want to walk to class together?” Kirsch asked and Laura gave him a nod before turning to Danny to say goodbye. She was still shooting daggers in his direction but eased off when Laura spoke to her.  
“Hey, he’s cool, okay? I’ll be fine now. I always am. I can handle myself.” She spoke confidently. She was actually quite sure things might be okay for now.  
“Okay, Laura. I guess I’ll see you later.” Danny said and turned around without another word.

At lunch, Laura felt a bit more relaxed and started telling her friends more about all the sightseeing she’d done in Paris. Nothing had happened in class. Not one guy had made a comment or thrown little props of paper at her head. And when she got seated at her usual lunch table, some of the guys even came up to her to apologize.  
Things were going well for Laura here in Silas so far, and hopefully they would stay this good. She realized she should be happy with everything that’s changed and how she felt better about herself already. But she still found her mind wandering back to the dark haired woman a couple of times that week. The image of her sitting underneath the tree, reading a book so worn out she figured the woman must have read it plenty of times. Sometimes it was the memory of how she had circled her arms around the woman’s neck. Or the breath of the words the woman had spoken against her ear. Though, the one that got her most of all was the tingle she felt on the exact same spot that the woman had given her a reassuring kiss on the top of her head. It was weird to look back on now, but it had felt so comforting.

She found herself reaching for the anchor around her neck multiple times this week. Sometimes she did it purposely, when she was thinking about her. Other times her fingers traced the necklace all the way down and back up again without her knowing. LaFontaine had noticed that she was spending a lot of time studying the necklace, no doubt. But they didn’t really question her about it and just gave her questioning looks instead when no one was looking.  


It was on Friday, a week and two days after her encounter with the woman, that Perry complimented her on the new piece of jewelry while they were eating lunch. This is what brought it to the attention of Danny, who, of course, had to ask about it.  
“Yeah it is nice,” she said as a follow up to Perry, “but where did you get it Laura? I haven’t seen you wearing it before this week.” Laura didn’t really know why, but she found the question extremely annoying. Before she could answer anything though, LaFontaine chimed in.  
“Don’t tell me you bought yourself a souvenir in Paris but didn’t bring any back for us.” LaFontaine only half joked and got a stern look from Perry in response.  
Laura was glad for LaFontaine’s input though. “Actually yeah it’s from Paris. I got it as a gift, I didn’t have time to buy anything for you guys. Sorry LaF.” LaFontaine just made a dismissive noise as their mouth was full of food. Perry reached inside her bag and put napkins on the table before turning to her own neatly packed lunch. The way those two worked so well was incredible.  
“A gift?” Danny looked at her with an odd expression on her face. “From whom?”  
Laura bit the inside of her cheek for a moment as she looked at the anchor that was placed in her hand. Should she tell them about her? She – for some reason unknown to her – didn’t really feel like sharing the story with Danny right now, so she made up her mind before they started suggesting things themselves.  
“Just someone in Paris that I met by the Eiffel Tower. They gave me this little gift for free. I couldn’t really understand why. Their French was too fluent and they had to go.” Okay so not an entire lie exactly. Just more of an omission about them being a girl that she found extremely attractive and may or may not have a slight crush on. Just to be safe, she changed the location from the dangerous streets at night to the touristic spot she’d first seen the woman. She didn’t really feel like explaining as to why she was at a club in the first place. The French thing was a lie, sure, but she wasn’t really sure why the woman had given her the necklace. She figured it was best to keep it as vague as possible.  
Danny was silent as she seemed to think over Laura’s words for a moment. LaFontaine finished their bite and took a sip from their drink. Perry was the one to respond first in a way only Perry would.  
“You’re not supposed to take anything from strangers on the street, Laura.”  
LaFontaine nearly did a spit take, their hand coming up to their mouth to stop the response. Perry gave them a look when they started laughing. Laura chuckled slightly, because admittedly, it was pretty funny.  
“You know, Laura? I would have said exactly the same thing.” LaFontaine spoke. Danny nodded in agreement and Perry smiled while Laura just gave them a curious look. LaFontaine answered her look. “But I would have meant it as a joke.” That made Danny roll her eyes and a sigh erupted from Perry.  
Laura smiled at them and got a warm smile in return. She had the feeling LaFontaine knew more than they led on, but she was happy that they did not say anything in front of the others.  
LaFontaine kept the conversation going by changing the subject away from Laura and her trip to Paris as they kept bringing up new theories on how to make stuff explode. Something that Perry was not very fond of. She’d kindly reminded them of the time one of their experiments had gone slightly wrong and they’d burned off their eyebrows. LaFontaine had then changed the subject once more.  


The rest on their lunch break was rather uneventful. Kirsch joined them at their table which caused for some bickering between him and Danny but it was all resolved with stern look from Perry who didn’t want anyone to raise their voice at one another. Laura still didn’t know what history they had but by now she was convinced _something_ was going on. She didn’t dare press the matter in front of all of them though. Evidently, she was glad when she got to return to class and get away from all the suspicious looks Danny was sending her way. She gladly let the teacher’s speech distract her from drowning in her thoughts. It wasn’t until her first class of the afternoon nearly ended that trouble started again.

Laura felt something light hit her in the back of her head. She frowned as she glanced back to see who threw the crumbled up paper at her. Jason sat in his usual seat, regarding her. After a second, he gave her a nod and pointed down at the paper.  
Laura was having an internal debate. Should she read it and endure whatever the insult was, or should she just turn back to the lesson and be silent?  
No. She told herself she wouldn’t be the silent victim anymore. She made up her mind and snatched the paper up from the floor. She turned it over in her hands a few times as she debated if she was ready to read the harsh words. She closed her eyes, let one of her hands drift towards the anchor necklace and took a deep breath before quickly unfolding the piece of paper and running a hand over it to smoothen out the creases.

She frowned at the words scribbled on the paper. Wait what?  
_“Laura, will you meet me after class? I’d like to talk to you for a moment.”_  
Okay, so this is unexpected. She glanced at Jason again and saw him sitting there with a kind look on his face. No smirk, no wiggling eyebrows and no mocking gestures. To be honest, this was the last thing she had expected to see. She gave him a nod and turned back to her notes. Her Professor was still going on and on about the structure and components of the cells and Laura couldn’t be bothered enough to care. It wasn’t like she didn’t know this stuff.  
For the ten minutes remaining, Laura’s mind was trying to figure out if she decided the right thing. It couldn’t hurt to just talk right?

 _Wrong_.

 

Laura was stunned when the first sensation of pain crawled up from her wrist to her shoulder when her arm was twisted around her back. His voice next to her ear sent chills throughout her body as he spat insults at her. She struggled against his strong arms pushing her forward into the lockers. Her head was slammed against the locker door but no one came to help her. Of course his gang would be on the lookout, playing guard dogs for their leader as he landed a few punches on her. If only her French Dame was here to help her. She just couldn’t get herself out of his grip as her slammed her head into the lockers once again and kicked her in the shins.  
She lost count of how many times she felt bursts of pain throughout her body. It happened again.  
And again.  
And again.  
  
When he finally let her wrist go, she fell to the floor. She could feel her skin burn where he had touched her. Her knees were weak from shock of what happened, she found it hard to stand. She figured he would have run off, but no. He was standing a step away from her, looking down at her as if she was nothing more than a piece of trash on the ground. As if he was daring her to fight back.

“No one fucks around with me, bitch.” He spat at her but she was quick enough to turn her head so he didn’t exactly hit his mark. She whipped her face clean and glared up at him. Oh if looks could kill he would be burning in the pits of hell by now.

She found the strength to stand up and for a second she considered tackling him and landing a punch or two on him, but the warning bell rang and she wanted to keep her head high. Stepping to his level wouldn’t help this situation. She gathered her backpack up from where it had fallen and stared straight ahead, holding her chin up and trying to take strong, deliberate steps. As she walked past him, he put out his foot and she fell, hands forward, onto the cold tile floor.

Her wrist was throbbing with pain. The fall had only made it worse. The second bell rang when she turned around to stand up. She just caught a glimpse of Jason walking around the corner at the end of the corridor. Luckily he didn’t share his last class of the day with her. She would not have given him the honor of seeing her in class after this humiliation. Not going would have meant defeat too.

Instead she decided to go by the school nurse. Maybe she could get away with saying she fell down the stairs? She sighed as she grabbed her backpack once again and headed towards the school nurse. She’d be kind enough to inform her English teacher. Miss Matthews actually liked her so missing a class wouldn’t be the worst.


	4. Violet

Laura walked out of the school building, wanting to go home as soon as possible. This week could have been the best week in school in years, yet Jason had managed to ruin it again. He always found a way. She knew it wouldn’t last long, but that sliver of hope had only grown over the past week. And here she was, walking out of the school building with a sore ankle and a bruised wrist, in addition to the many bruises that were probably starting to form. She was careful in walking down the front steps, looking at her feet to make sure she didn’t trip. He’d really gotten her this time. She sighed and made her way further down the path leading towards the bicycle parking. How was she ever going to get home with her foot hurting like this?  


She looked up into the sun that was already on its way to the horizon. In front of her stood the beautiful tree she had always loved. It was different than any other tree around because it had purple-ish leaves, even in the summer. Since her departure to Paris, the tree had blossomed further and was now proudly presenting its leaves to all the students.

There was only one difference compared to all the other times she saw it. Someone was sitting at the foot of the tree, reading. Of course it wasn’t that unusual for people to be reading or hanging out on the courtyard and in front of the school, but the last period of the day wasn’t over yet. The bell hadn’t rang yet. People skipping class usually didn’t stick around the school building, unless you wanted to get caught. She was slowly nearing the tree and she frowned at the sight. She’d seen that book before, and those boots.  
  
“If you stare any longer, your eyes are going to pop out, Petite.” The familiar voice spoke and a wide smile crept onto Laura’s face as realization hit her. The beautiful young woman lowered her book and gave her a small smile. Laura was dumbstruck as she stared at her. For a moment, all she could bring herself to do was make inaudible sounds while her mouth hung slightly agape.  
“Hey!” She finally managed to get out as the woman put her book in her bag and got herself upright.  
“Hey,” She spoke, with her voice as beautiful as ever. It sounded quite happy actually.  
It felt as though the beautiful, near black eyes were staring straight into her soul. She felt drawn to her and took a step forward only to be pulled back to the reality of her situation as a sharp pain shot through her ankle. She winced as her knee buckled. Strong arms were supporting her in an instant, holding her up by her elbows. She was helped upright but she kept her hands grasped around the woman’s arms. She looked up to see a concerned look flashing across the pale features in front of her and casted her gaze towards the ground.  
“Are you okay?” The husky voice asked and she felt the hands loosen on her elbows. She didn’t want to let go of her but she still did, missing the comforting touch already. Laura could only nod in response, she didn’t trust her voice not to betray her true emotions.

She managed to pull herself together and gestured for the woman to walk along with her. The woman offered her arm for Laura to lean on and she gladly took it, if only to be closer to her.  
“I wasn’t sure I would actually see you again,” Laura voiced her thoughts. There was a certain sadness in her voice that surprised her.  
“Truth be told, I wasn’t so sure either.” She felt the woman’s gaze travel over her as she slowly walked along the small path, leaving the tree with purple leaves behind them.  
Laura was about to speak again when the woman cut her off.  
“I see you’ve been taking care of my necklace.” There was the playful woman she’d first met again.  
“Hey!” Laura scoffed, “Technically it’s mine now.” She glanced at her from the corner of her eyes and saw her raise an eyebrow.  
She was sure the brunette was about to respond when the bell rang from behind them, signaling the end of yet another school day. Soon, students would be filing out of the building.

“Shit, they can’t see you here.” Laura panicked and grabbed the brunette’s hand to drag her along. It could have worked if she wasn’t limping.  
“What did he do to your leg, Petite?” The brunette put a hand on her arm and stopped Laura in her tracks. She knew the question was coming but she had hoped they could have talked somewhere private instead of on the busiest path after school. Everyone took this way to go to their bicycles and she did not want to run into-

“Laura!” Danny. And LaFontaine and Perry followed by Kirsch, of course. She felt the panic rise in her chest as the woman cast a look towards the approaching group. So much for keeping the brunette a secret.

As they approached, Laura could see them all studying the woman beside her with curiosity displayed on their faces. They all stopped in front of the pair and Danny looked from the brunette to her, and back again.

“Hey, Laura. And Laura’s … friend?” Hostility was clear in Danny’s voice but the woman didn’t seem bothered by it. Perry had straightened herself up and gave them a polite smile, but Laura could see she was weary. LaFontaine remained neutral while Kirsch’s face suddenly spread out into a wide grin. Laura’s eyes widened as she shook her head, trying to signal for him to shut it but it was no use.

“Hey, I know you from somewhere.” He started. Everyone turned their attention to him except for Danny, who kept looking at the brunette out of the corner of her eye. “Yeah! You’re that lady from the park. Hey, it’s good to see you but- What are you doing all the way out here?” Kirsch’s tone was honestly curious and happy at the same time. Laura groaned internally as she felt the questions closing in on her.

The woman turned towards him, still holding Laura up on one side as Laura was trying to balance on her good foot. “None of your business. Tell me who did this to her.” Okay, not was the expected her to say, but it was better than anything she could come up with to change the subject. This woman was intimidating to say the least. Her friends didn’t seem to know what to say, all taken aback by the brunette.  
LaFontaine decided to speak up, “It’s this guy named Jason. He’s a real jackass. His buddies made sure Kirsch was distracted long enough for Jason to get to Laura. He didn’t hurt you, did he L?”

“No, I-“ She began but the brunette – who remained nameless even after all this time – took a step forward.  
“And where were you when this was all going down?”  
LaFontaine seemed taken aback and put their hands up. “Woah, I’m not in the same class. I wasn’t aware of it until Kirsch here told me Laura never made it to her last class of the day.”  
That seemed to calm the brunette down a bit, and she turned back to Laura to give her a hand. Laura’s ankle was hurting and somehow, the brunette figured that out and made sure she could lean on her to rest a bit.

Perry started next, “Laura, did you pass by the school nurse?”  
Laura nodded in response, “Yeah, she told me to take it easy and put more ice on it when I get home. My wrist is okay though, just a bit bruised.”

At this, the brunette turned her attention back towards Laura. Her eyes flashed with anger.  
“He hurt your wrist?” Before Laura could even get a word out, she had left her side and stalked towards the school. She wanted to call out for her but seeing as she didn’t exactly know her name – seriously how was that still a thing? It wasn’t like she could go after her.

“Somebody stop her! I don’t want her to get in trouble because of me!” Laura half yelled to the group as they were still trying to find out what to think of the woman. LaFontaine and Perry went to either side of Laura to help her back to the school building, where students were still rushing out the door. Danny and Kirsch were ahead of them, following the brunette who had reached the end of the path. Laura saw her stopping in front of Jason.

She saw them talking for a second before Jason suddenly doubled over in pain and the brunette delivered a blow to his back, making Jason fall onto the ground. Two guys helped Jason get up as the brunette walked back towards them, Danny and Kirsch having caught up to her.  
Jason came rushing towards her but before he could even have a swing at Carmilla, she ducked and swung her leg out to swipe his legs out from under him. He landed on the concrete with a loud thump.  
A crowd was gathering around them now. Jason’s buddies seemed hesitant to try anything.

Danny and Kirsch now stood on either side of the brunette.  
“If you want to keep your hands, I suggest you keep them to yourself.” The brunette’s voice was threatening. Jason was trying to get upright but he seemed to be having a hard time.

Laura caught up with the trio, with the help of Perry and LaF. She quickly thanked them and let go of them, half hopping towards the brunette whose hands were clenched into tight fists by her side. Laura put a hand on her shoulder and let the other hand trail a path down to the woman’s hand, feeling the muscles slowly relax beneath her fingers. She slipped her hand in between the cold one and gave it a slight tug, pulling the woman back to reality it seemed. Her eyes connected with the near black ones again and all the anger seeped out of them, finally relaxing.

Jason was finally standing. He wiped at his forehead, where a tiny trail of blood had trickled down to his eyebrow.  
“Is that how you do it, Hollis? Get others to do your dirty work for you?” Before Danny could even react, Laura had turned back towards him and thrust two fingers into his throat for a split second.  
“You know what Jason? Screw you. I’m done.” Laura turned her back to him and started to walk away, her hands still holding onto the ice cold one comforting her. She tugged the brunette along.

LaFontaine was giving her a proud smile and even Perry looked slightly pleased. The crowd that had gathered around the commotion cheered for her but she ignored them. She just wanted to go and sit with her friends. She had some explaining to do.

\--

Five minutes later, they were all sitting by the big tree while purple leaves hung overhead. Laura had decided to just stay here for a while and let her foot rest. The others had no problems with arriving home late. As for Carmilla, she didn’t really have anywhere to go anyways, and Laura was kind of the reason why she was here. Spending time with her was the point.

Ginger one was the one to break the silence once they were all seated in a circle. Carmilla kept close to Laura and sat next to her, the big red clinging to her other side. The giant Puppy was sitting on her other side while ginger one and ginger two were opposite them.  
“So… I think the big question is: who are you exactly?”  
She had to give them props for beating big red to it, seeing as she was glaring at her none stop.

Though the fact that they didn’t know her meant Laura hadn’t mentioned her to them. At all. Why did that sting? She hadn’t expected Laura to talk about her to her friends. She hadn’t expected anything when she’d arrived here. So why did it hurt knowing that she hadn’t been important enough for Laura to tell her friends?

She looked at Laura who was watching her. God, she really was gorgeous. Okay, no, not the time. She received a small nod and Laura turned towards her friends to start. Carmilla simply kept her gaze on Laura, admiring her beauty as she spoke.  
“Well, I told you about how I met someone in the Champs de Mars, right? This is her.” Laura said, clearly nervous. She felt a comforting warmth spread through her knowing Laura had mentioned her.  
Laura continued, “I wasn’t completely honest with you all. I met her in the park the first time, we talked a bit and split ways. Then later, the class decided to sneak out of the hotel. They wanted to go clubbing.”

Ginger two, the one with the curly hair, shifted. “Laura, don’t tell me you went with them! I looked up the hotel you were staying in. It was very dangerous over there.” Carmilla rolled her eyes, she’s the mothering type. _Great_.

“Perry, I didn’t want to be the loser left behind, okay? I just wanted to be included in the group for once.” Laura grumbled the last part of the sentence.  
“I’m just glad you’re okay.” Ginger two – apparently called Perry – said. Laura gave her a smile.  
  
“But wait, what does this have to do with you?” Ginger one said. Before either of them could even think about answering, the big Puppy raised his hand and waved it excitedly in the air.  
“Oh, oh, oh! Can I tell them this part of the story?” She raised an eyebrow at him but Laura gave him a nod. _Oh boy._

“So,” he started, “We all went out to this club not far from the hotel and the guy at the door - you know the macho-type? Well, he didn’t even want to check our ID’s or anything so we got in!” The curly – Perry didn’t look pleased, neither did ginger giant. Laura’s grip on her hand tightened as Kirsch went on with his story.  
“Jason got us all drinks and stuff but when he saw Laura, he wanted to bully her some more. Out of nowhere, she pops up,” he gestures towards her and she feels all eyes shift to her. She gives them an awkward wave before he continues, “And totally kicks. His. Ass. It was badass!” She found herself biting the inside of her lip, trying not to show a smile. It was actually pretty funny hearing him tell the story like a nine-year-old on a sugar rush.

“Thanks to you,” Laura spoke, the attention turn to her again, “I’m okay now.” Her smile was a magnificent sight. She felt a warmth inside of her grow, knowing she was the cause of it.  
Laura turned back to the group. “She made sure I got back to the hotel safely and gave me this.” Laura picked up the anchor necklace from where it was resting against her chest and twirled it between her fingers.

“So you lied to us.” It was the giant that had said it.  
“I didn’t lie to you, Danny.” Laura’s voice was sharp. “I simply didn’t want to deal with the 20 questions you always have for me. Did that ever cross your mind? I told you I got it from someone in the park and you already freaked out. Do you really have to question why I hadn’t told you the full story?” The bite was clear in Laura’s voice. She had given this a lot of thought. Carmilla didn’t feel so bad about Laura not having mentioned her to the group of friends before.

That seemed to shut Xena up. She couldn’t help but let the corner of her mouth twitch. Laura, who had obviously noticed, hit her shoulder playfully and cast her a smile. Laura lent in closer. _Oh god, she’s so close_. Her mouth is near Carmilla’s ear and her breath is brushing past it, sending shivering through Carmilla’s cold body.  
“Hey, be nice. These are my friends.” Laura said, and then she hesitated for a second and spoke even more softly. “Besides, I still don’t know your name and I would like to call you something else than dark haired beauty, thank you very much.” Laura cleared her throat and turned back to her friends who were giving her looks.  
Carmilla, in her turn, turned towards the honey blonde haired girl next to her and whispered barely loud enough for Laura to hear: “It’s Carmilla, Carmilla Karnstein.”

She saw the girl visibly swallow and trying to hide the blush creeping onto her features.  
“So to answer your question, Carmilla is a friend. She’s going to stay around for a while.” Carmilla only had eyes for Laura as she spoke. Laura wanted her around. “Right?” There was hope radiating in Laura’s voice and she was giving her these giant begging eyes. How could she ever say no to those?

Carmilla grabbed Laura’s hand from her lap and gave her a real, genuine smile. She couldn’t remember the last time she had felt so at peace.

Of course ginger giant had to change all of that.

\--

 

Laura enjoyed the feeling of having Carmilla’s hand in hers. Even though it was unusually cold to the touch, it gave her a warm feeling inside. She got lost in the moment for a while before Danny’s voice dragged her back into reality. She sighed internally. She really did like Danny, but what was up with her constant need to annoy her lately?

“So what you’re saying is that you met her in Paris. Alright. But why are you now here all of the sudden?” Danny really wasn’t planning on letting this go, was she?  
To her surprise, Perry saved the day. Or what was left of it anyways.  
“Danny, I think that’s enough questions for today,” and at the sight of Danny wanting to interrupt and speak again, she said: “No. We’ve all had a long day. I think it’s time to go home.” Perry turned to her. “Don’t forget to ice your ankle, and perhaps you should go see a doctor. Just to be sure, you know?”

Laura gave her a reassuring smile, “Thank you, Perry, but I’m sure it’ll be okay.” She was grateful to have an escape route now that Perry had suggested they all go home. That was until she realized she didn’t know if Carmilla was actually going to stay. Was she? She said she would before but they hadn’t really had the chance to talk and oh god, what if she was only here for one day? And –

“Hello? Earth to Laura. You want us to help you up or leave you here all night?” LaFontaine’s hand was waving in front of her face. Great, way too overthink things. Don’t panic.  
“Yeah, no. Some help would be nice. ‘Still kinda hurts.” She put her arms out and LaFontaine pulled her up while Carmilla supported her back to make sure she didn’t fall back down. It all felt so natural. Carmilla already seemed part of their little group, while she’d only just met them. It made Laura smile.

 _Carmilla_. It was a nice, yet strange name. And then her last name: Karnstein. It had a special sort of ring to it, like she should own a castle or something. Perhaps the woman did own a castle and she just didn’t know it yet? She shook her head to get out of her dreamy state and accepted Carmilla’s arm to lean on. Yes, she kind of needed it, but it was also just nice being so close to her.

Kirsch had been talking to Perry when he turned towards them. “I’m gonna get going. I still have a long way to go to get home. I need to get home to make dinner, so I’ll see you guys, gals and pals on Monday?” Laura didn’t miss the little smile on LaFontaine’s face. Kirsch really was a wonderful friend. They all wished him a happy weekend, and he took off.

LaFontaine and Carmilla helped Laura slowly walk towards their bikes. She may have gone a little slower than she could have, simply because she was afraid she had to say goodbye to Carmilla. She couldn’t help but wonder how long Carmilla was going to stay.

 

When they arrived at the bicycle parking spots, Danny took off without a word. She tried to say goodbye but Danny had sped off so fast she didn’t get the chance. She was being so childish.  
  
She knew LaFontaine and Perry would take off together soon. While she was really looking forward to some time alone with Carmilla – to talk – she was also really nervous all of the sudden. Carmilla had been relatively silent throughout their walk to their bikes. She seemed to be happy with merely listening to their conversations as they walked. Then again, she hadn’t made a lot of effort to talk to her either.

“Laura, don’t forget to – “ Perry started again.  
“Yeah, Perry, I know. Ice my ankle.” Laura was grateful for her concern, but she could only take so much. She was already dreading telling her dad about her ankle.  
“Will you be able to get home?” LaF asked her. It was a good question, because she herself wasn’t quite sure if she’d manage but she found herself dismissing them anyways.  
“Yeah, I’ll be fine. You go home. I’ll see you tomorrow.” With a smile, they left her alone with Carmilla.

She felt her nerves creep up again. What was she so damn nervous about?  
“So…” She started. _Solid, Laura. Very nice_. She groaned internally.  
  
I don’t think you’ll be able to put any weight on that foot of yours, Petite.” Carmilla’s mouth did this thing where only the corner of her mouth would turn slightly up, signaling the beginnings of a smile. But also a sign she was teasing. “They could have helped you home you know?” Carmilla’s voice was even but it sounded a bit sad to Laura.

“I have my bike for support,” Laura said as she grabbed her bike and used it to lean on. She instantly missed Carmilla’s touch but figured she could use some distance. Perhaps get a new perspective, one without Carmilla’s touch distracting her. Still, she found enough courage to say, “Plus, I wasn’t really ready to say goodbye to you yet.” She didn’t dare look Carmilla is the eye when she said it, her cheeks heating up just a bit. She could picture the smirk on the brunette’s face, but she didn’t give Laura any other sign that she heard what Laura had said.

With Laura leaning on her bike, they continued to walk besides each other in complete silence. This time, it was different. She wasn’t so worried about the silence in between them. It felt normal. But they weren’t making much progress getting home. It was only about half an hour home if she went by bike, but on foot, this would take much longer.

After the third sigh in five minutes, and fourth twitch of pain flashing across Laura’s face, Carmilla spoke up.

“Okay, Petite, this isn’t working,” and without a word, Carmilla took a hold of Laura’s bike, mounted it, and motioned for Laura to sit on the back.

Laura happily obliged. “I can’t remember the last time I ever did this with someone,” Laura smiled. Her arms circled around Carmilla’s waist as Carmilla took off. She tried her best not to notice the flutter in her stomach that spread a warmth throughout her entire body when she rested her head against Carmilla’s back and breathed in her scent as wind rushed past them. She smelled like

“Me neither,” Carmilla said. Although Laura couldn’t see it, the smile was clear in her voice.

 

 

**_Cher Guillaume_ **

**_J’espère que tout va bien pour toi. Mes sincères excuses d’être partie sans dire au revoir. C’était trop difficile pour moi. Je n’ai jamais bien su exprimé mes sentiments._ **

**_Je t’avais promis quelque chose. J’aimerais te dire que je suis heureuse maintenant. Vraiment heureuse. A Paris, tout était bien, mais ici… je me sens à l’aise._ **

**_Je ne suis pas capable de te dire où j’habite, Maman pourrait encore être à ma recherche. Mais je pense que je resterai ici longtemps. Peut-être je te rendrai visite dans quelques années._ **

**_Prends soin de toi, mon cher ami._ **

**_Carmilla Karnstein_ **

_"Dear Guillaume_

_I hope you’re well. My sincerest apologies for leaving without saying goodbye. It was too difficult for me. I’ve never been good at expressing my emotions._

_I promised you something. I would like to tell you that I’m happy now. Truly happy. In Paris, everything was alright, but here… I feel at ease._

_I can’t tell you where I’m living, Maman might still be looking for me. But I think I’ll be staying here for a long time. Perhaps I could visit you in a few years._

_Take care of yourself, my dear friend._

_Carmilla Karnstein"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is part of the Carmilla Big Bang 2015.  
> Find the illustrations here: http://caskettmyheart.tumblr.com/post/133279642081/spectralseed-here-is-the-art-to-go-with-this

**Author's Note:**

> I suggest you search the meaning of the chapter Titles. ;)


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